1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a carpet seaming iron, and more particularly, to a carpet seaming iron particularly adapted for use in carpet repairs wherein a replacement patching plug is fitted into a relatively small cut-out opening in a carpet.
2. Background Discussion
Carpeting is probably the most commonly used type of floor covering employed for a wide range of purposes including commercial designs, industrial facilities and residential structures. After extended use, small sections of carpet are often damaged by burns, tears, rips and the like and have to be repaired or the entire carpet replaced.
Since the damaged areas of carpets are usually confined to relatively small cross-sectional areas, it is often feasible to cut-out the damaged area and to make a patch with a patching plug that is cut to fit the cut-out opening. In order to retain a satisfactory appearance of the carpet, the damaged area must be cut-out with precision and a precisely matched patching plug must be fitted within the opening cut-out in the original carpet.
The bottom surface of the patching plug is preferably secured in place to the bottom surface of the surrounding carpet using a hot-melt adhesive seaming tape coated with a heat activated adhesive that is typically actuated using a hot seaming iron. To obtain good adhesion, it is important to heat all of the seaming tape. However, known seaming irons, such as seen in FIGS. 1A and 1B, are relatively wide and large (for example, from 3 to 6 inches wide and 8 to 12 inches long) and rectangular in shape, such as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,295 to Cracchiolo, and cannot be easily inserted, if at all, into the comparatively small opening of the cut-out in the original carpet in order to directly contact the heat activated adhesive on the seaming tape. Also, the size and shape of conventional seaming irons make it difficult to: 1) move the seaming iron within the cut-out opening without the seaming iron becoming hung-up in or caught on the edges of the cut-out opening and 2) remove the seaming iron from the cut-out opening upon completion of the repair without getting hot-melt adhesive on the carpet.
More specifically and referring to FIGS. 1A-1B, when the cut-out opening is large enough, the standard size seaming iron, generally indicated at 10, is inserted into the cut-out opening and under the edge 12 of the surrounding carpet 14. The heated surface 16 of the seaming iron 10 is applied directly to the seaming tape 18 positioned beneath the carpet 14 around the entire periphery 20 of the cut-out and the patching plug 22 is inserted into the cut-out so as to overlie the seaming iron 10. The seaming iron 10 is then moved along each length of the carpet seaming tape 18 at the seam 24 formed between the plug 22 and the carpet 14 to activate the hot-melt adhesive and attach the patching plug 22 to the carpet 14.
Due to the relatively large length and width of the conventional seaming iron 10, as compared to the size of the cut-out opening, it is difficult to maneuver the seaming iron 10 within the cut-out and along each side of the cut-out so as to properly contact the seaming tape 18 and activate the hot-melt adhesive thereon. In addition, it is important that the patching plug 22 lay flat with the carpet 14 at the seam 24.
In addition, due to the difficulty of moving the relatively larger iron 10 within the comparatively small cut-out opening, it is quite possible for one side of the patching plug 22 to become securely glued to the surrounding carpet 14 before all of the seaming tape 18 has been activated, thus making it very difficult to remove the seaming iron 10 from the cut-out. Moreover, due to the difficulty in removing the seaming iron 10 from the cut-out after completion of the repair, hot-melt adhesive on the bottom of the seaming iron 10 can be inadvertently applied to the carpet upon removal of the seaming iron 10 from the cut-out opening, thereby ruining the entire repair and necessitating re-performance of the entire procedure.
When the cut-out opening is not large enough to permit the insertion of a known carpet seaming iron, the carpet repairs must be performed by placing short lengths of hot-melt adhesive seaming tape around the periphery of the opening in the carpet and latex or hot melt adhesive must be applied directly to the tape by hand, for example, using a hot-glue gun or the like, to secure the patch to the surrounding carpet. This method is not only awkward and time consuming, but because adhesive is being applied over the heat activated adhesive on the seaming tape, the bond so formed is not the best that it could be.